Sydney - Perth 6.500k later

I am sorry that it took me even longer to get the english version done, but I had it all typed and then the computer in the backpacker broke down and messed the whole thing up, so I had to restart and it's quiet hard work to do, but there we go.
We actually calculated 3.900k for the straight way, but as you might have noticed, we have done a lot more than this, to see a lot more than just the roads. As there were so many things to tell and so many pictures to see, I will just pick out the highlights and add a few more details to the pictures at flickr.com. Have a look there too.

Canberra - is a lovely city, clean, calm and very green and with the artificial lake situated really lovely. We stayed two days and have never regret not listening to Bill Bryson and everybody else. Did you know that every australian resident payed 80bucks with their taxes to build the 4.500 room new parliament building for the government? We spent a lot of time at the embassies quarter, the national museum and down at the waterfront below the international flag display. You would not believe that the flag on top of the parliament has the size of a double-decker busses side. Its still hard to imagine when standing right below.

Outback - We wanted to see the big nothing and started off to go 1.300k into the country to finally get to Broken Hill. A place with exactly nothing going on except from heat. But outside we have seen wildlife and Silverton, on of the earliest settlements of the miners. A roadsign told us that it is not yet a ghosttown, although it looks like it, but there are still 50 people around. There have been about 3000 by the active time, but as soon as the mines were closed down everybody moved their homes to Broken Hill, where their families still live today. Next stop was Flinders Ranges national park, where we finally met a lot of roos and started to believe they really exist, as so far we had only seen them dead on the roads. The luxury campground, which not even had a campers kitchen, but a neat restaurant to eat in, was pretty dissappointing, but the wildlife and nature made it all up again. We did our first hike up on the egdes of Wilpena Pound, the largest natural amphitheatre.

Eyre Peninsula - First stop was Whyalla and we had a tentsite just at the waterfront so decided to stay for two nights and enjoy almost 40 degress winds from the desert. Unfortunately the tides have taken the water away most of the day, but we at least made it once into the ocean to use Ians Frisbee. (BTW Ian: All the stuff you gave us really made sence, glad you are such an outdoor person.) Second stop was Lincoln National Park. We drove 30k on gravel roads to get to an bush camping area without facilities, but it was one of the best spots seen so far. A lot of birds and fish around there to see and as it was just one night, we could easily handle it. Althought the shower the next night felt excellent. Driving up the west coast of the Peninsula, seeing Great Ocean Drive with stunning views again to stay the last night at Streaky Bay, which is not worth to mention.

Nullabor - This part of the travel was supposed to be the hardest bit, regarding to everybody telling us about. Nothing there, no live, just heat and long long ways to go, thats what it was expected to be. In fact it wasn't that hard at all, because most of the road just goes right down the coastline, the great marine bight national park, which supplies stunning views across the ocean. There were other people moving around and every once in a while there was a even a fuel stop where we could get icecream. It wasn't that hot as there was always a breeze coming in from the ocean.

My highlight was Fowlers Bay, as the dunes down there have been almost as nice as the ones in the UAE and made me feel quite happy. We stayed in Nundroo and Madura Pass, which are both huge cities with about 5 building (including petrol station, motel and restaurant) and at least 10 residents. We had a nice cabin in Nundroo Cabin Park (4 cabins all together) with a lovely veranda and BBQ place and ensuite bathroom. All in all travelling this area was a lot more intersting than we thought it would be.

Norseman - We crossed the Nullabor and got our certificates at Norseman, a gold miners town where especially on Mondays all shops close down at noon. Anyways, we had a lovely place to stay with an elderly couple (still backpacking themselves around) in a 4 bed dorm just on our own and a few part time geologist around. I was keen on talking to them about their job, but all of them had no idea of what they are looking for. They just do what their boss tells them and thats it. At least one of them has been to Germany before and another one looked quiet cute...so they made it up. Beside we had the hottest day so far 42.8 degress Celsius and it was also the hottest day in WA that day. Norseman is named Norseman because a horse named like this started the whole place off with finding the first gold nugget with its hooves.

SouthWestAustralia - is all about trees. They have tree top walks, giant trees, climbing trees and acient trees as well and we have seen all of them. We have done the 41m above ground level tree top walk at the Walpole Nornalup National Park. They even made the construction swing on purpose to make sure you get the real bird feeling. Huge gum trees and the eldest one as well and finally the Gloucester Tree which I climbed up to 61m have been other stops. I was still wondering where my sour muscles came from two days later. Hard work, but well worth. First stop around here was Albany, a lovely little town at the seaside, where we got taught, that it is a famous holiday region, as all cabins have been completly booked and we had to camp again. Visited Tornidurrup National park, where more pictures are at the sets with flickr. This on is taken on top of the gap.

Margeret River Wine region - is probably known by all of you, famous for its white wines. We spent two days in Gracetown, having our own little chalet, just 10min from the beach. We visited all local factories and spent a lot of bucks on chocolate, nuts and cheese. Beside this we just hang out at the veranda or at the beach and we would have seen surfers too, cause thats the second point the region is famous for, if we wouldn't have been to lazy to walk. Been at Cape Leeuwin to see where indian and southern ocean meet and climbed down the Jewel cave to see the past.

Perth - Finally back in the real civilisation with Internet and real people. Gonna celebrate my birthday today and Australia day tomorrow here before heading north for a beach holiday at the coral coast. My hair has gone almost blonde and grown really long and I don't know what to do about it, please help out with the decision, Mario added a voting to the blog :-)) Perth itself is quiet nice, but so remote, even in Australia, not to talk about the rest of the world, not a place to stay. Please see the pictures for more details and check out my friends website http://www.weltreisetraum.de. The next time I will do the english version first...